Shan, Darren - Cirque Du Freak 03 - Tunnels Of Blood

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TUNNELS OF BLOOD

Cirque Du Freak Book 3

By

Darren Shan

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Cirque Du Freak

Tunnels of Blood

My name is Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire. I used to be human, until I stole a vampire's spider. After that, my life changed forever. Mr. Crepsley—the vampire—forced me to become his assistant, and I joined a circus full of weird performers called the Cirque Du Freak.

Now Darren, the vampire's assistant, gets a taste of the city when he leaves the Cirque Du Freak with Evra the snake-boy and Mr. Crepsley. When corpses are discovered—corpses drained of blood—Darren and Evra are compelled to hunt down whatever foul creature is committing such horrendous acts. Then beneath the streets, evil stalks Darren and Evra, and all clues point to Mr. Crepsley. Can they escape, or are they doomed to perish in the tunnels of blood?

This is Darren's story.

Rave reviews for:

Tunnels of Blood

"A perfect book for reluctant middle school readers. For those fans ofBuffy andAngel , here is another book to satisfy their vampiric tastes."

—Voya

"Described in stomach-churning detail, the story is compulsively readable. But it's not for the squeamish."

—School Library Journal

"TheCirque Du Freak series approaches vampires from a new perspective, completely rewriting some of the ground rules with regards to powers, strengths and weaknesses, giving them [a] fresh feel."

—Science Fiction Chronicle

Book 3

Cirque Du Freak

THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN

Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY

New York An AOL Time Warner Company

Copyright © 2002 by Darren Shan

First U.S. Paperback Edition

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2000

Tunnels of blood / by Darren Shan.

(The saga of Darren Shan ; bk. 3) Sequel to: The vampire's assistant.

Summary: Darren, Evra, and Mr. Crepsley leave the Cirque Du Freak and get a taste of the city, but when corpses drained of blood are discovered, Darren and Evra must confront a dangerous creature of the night.

ISBN 0-316-60763-0 (he) /ISBN 0-316-60608-1 (pb)

Printed in the United States of America

Also in the CIRQUE DU FREAK series:

Cirque Du Freak(Book 1)

The Vampire's Assistant(Book 2)

Vampire Mountain(Book 4)

Trials of Death(Book 5)The Vampire Prince (Book 6)

For:

Granny and Grandad—tough old fogeys

OBEs (Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:

Caroline "Tracker" Paul

Paul "The Pillager" Litherland

Heads off to:

Biddy "Jekyll" and Liam "Hyde"

Gillie "Grave Robber" Russell

The hideously creepy HarperCollins gang

and

Emma and Chris (from "Ghouls Are Us")

PROLOGUE

The smell of blood is sickening. Hundreds of carcasses hang from silver hooks, stiff, shiny with frosty blood. I know they're just animals — cows, pigs, sheep — but I keep thinking they're human.

I take a careful step forward. Powerful overhead lights mean it's bright as day. I have to tread carefully. Hide behind the dead animals. Move slowly. The floor's slippery with water and blood, which makes progress even trickier.

Ahead, I spot him… the vampire… Mr. Crepsley. He's moving as quietly as I am, eyes focused on the fat man a little way ahead.

The fat man. He's why I'm here in this ice-cold slaughterhouse. He's the human Mr. Crepsley intends to kill. He's the man I have to save.

The fat man pauses and checks one of the hanging slabs of meat. His cheeks are chubby and red. He's wearing clear plastic gloves. He pats the dead animal — the squeaky noise of the hook as the carcass swings puts my teeth on edge — then begins whistling. He starts to walk again. Mr. Crepsley follows. So do I.

Evra is somewhere far behind. I left him outside. No point in both of us risking our lives.

I pick up speed, moving slowly closer. Neither knows I'm here. If everything works out as planned, they won't know, not until Mr. Crepsley makes his move. Not until I'm forced to act.

The fat man stops again. Bends to examine something. I take a quick step back, afraid he'll spot me, but then I see Mr. Crepsley closing in. Damn! No time to hide. If this is the moment he's chosen to attack, I have to get nearer.

I spring forward several feet, risking being heard. Luckily Mr. Crepsley is entirely focused on the fat man.

I'm only three or four feet behind the vampire now. I bring up the long butcher's knife that I've been holding down by my side. My eyes are glued to Mr. Crepsley. I won't act until he does — I'll give him every chance to prove my terrible suspicions wrong — but the second I see him tensing to spring…

I take a firmer grip on the knife. I've been practicing my swipe all day. I know the exact point I want to hit. One quick cut across Mr. Crepsley's throat and that'll be that. No more vampire. One more carcass to add to the pile.

Long seconds slip by. I don't dare look to see what the fat man is studying. Is he ever going to rise?

Then it happens. The fat man struggles to his feet. Mr. Crepsley hisses. He gets ready to lunge. I position the knife and steady my nerves. The fat man's on his feet now. He hears something. Looks up at the ceiling — wrong way, idiot! — as Mr. Crepsley leaps. As the vampire jumps, so do I, screeching loudly, slashing at him with the knife, determined to kill…

CHAPTER ONE

One month earlier…

My name's Darren Shan. I'm a half-vampire.

I usedto be human, until I stole a vampire's spider. After that, my life changed forever. Mr. Crepsley — the vampire — forced me to become his assistant, and I joined a circus full of weird performers called the Cirque Du Freak.

Adapting was hard. Drinking blood was harder, and for a long time I wouldn't do it. Eventually I did, to save the memories of a dying friend (vampires can store a person's memories if they drain all their blood). I didn't enjoy it — the following few weeks were horrible, and I was plagued by nightmares — but after that first blood-red drink there could be no going back. I accepted my role as a vampire's assistant and learned to make the best of it.

Over the course of the next year, Mr. Crepsley taught me how to hunt and drink without being caught; how to take just enough blood to survive; how to hide my vampire identity when mixing with others. And in time I put my human fears behind me and became a true creature of the night.

A couple of girls stood watching Cormac Limbs with serious expressions. He was stretching his arms and legs, rolling his neck around, loosening his muscles. Then, winking at the girls, he put the middle three fingers of his right hand between his teeth and bit them off.

The girls screamed and fled. Cormac chuckled and wriggled the new fingers that were growing out of his hand.

I laughed. You got used to stuff like that when you worked in the Cirque Du Freak. The traveling show was full of incredible people, freaks of nature with cool and sometimes frightening powers.